Reply affidavit on behalf of the Central Ground Water Board in the matter of Suo Moto case titled "Haryana 60.48% groundwater over exploited Kurukshetra worst Jhajjar best says" appearing in the Tribune, January 8, 2025. The CGWA report, May 3, 2025 addresses the issue of groundwater exploitation and violation of …
A SATELLITE that plunged into the sea is lying unclaimed and has become a point of debate between USA and China. The US Space Command says the satellite, launched by the Chinese on October 8, fell into the Pacific Ocean 1,600 km west of Peru. However, China disowns any connection …
Travellers entering USA may soon be identified by their hands. The identification system, known as Inspass, provides each traveller with a card that has a nine-byte code describing the shape of their hands. Inspass uses a solid-state television camera that photographs the hand from overhead and from the side and …
SCIENTISTS say the increase in the atmospheric concentration of methane -- a major greenhouse gas -- is fast levelling off (New Scientist, Vol 140, No 1991). Evidence of a halt in methane rise comes from measurements of atmospheric gases made at 26 stations around the world. In the 1970s, the …
THE INGENIOUS tactics villagers employ to cut sandalwood came to light when police and forest officials raided Kerebalachi village in Shimoga district last year. The villagers mark the trees during the day when they go into the forest to collect firewood, but cut it only later, at a more opportune …
ARSENIC pollution of groundwater in West Bengal is reportedly threatening 13 border districts in Bangladesh as well. Some people are said to have died because of the pollution in West Bengal, says a Panos report. Bangladesh scientists have found arsenic in water samples collected from the bordering districts, adds the …
IRKSOME mosquitoes? Forget mosquito repellant mats, grow a geranium instead, and have the odour of citronella waft the annoying creatures away. An Australian company has developed a new plant -- Mozzie Buster -- a cross between an African geranium and citronella grass, which they say is an extremely effective mosquito …
A TIMES poll showed 92 per cent of British citizens opposed the two-stage imposition of a value-added tax on domestic fuel and heating. Unperturbed by these figures, British chancellor Kenneth Clarke said in a television interview, that they must go ahead to help bring down the L50 billion borrowing requirement. …
A POTENTIAL threat to barley and other crops is the proposal that countries pay royalties for plant genetic materials used to create commercial varieties. Even as debate continues on the issue, developing countries have stepped up their demands for such royalties, says Henry Shands, genetic resources director at the US …
THE INDIAN pulse scene is witnessing a curious paradox. Thanks to the development of new varieties, in 1992-93, pulse production touched a peak of 14.6 million tonnes (mt). Imports have decreased substantially, from 1.3 mt in 1990-91 to some 300,000 tonnes in 1991-92. But, despite these achievements, experts caution that …
PAKISTAN'S agriculture dominated economy may be crippled by increased variation in monsoons over the next 50 years as a result of global warming, fears the director of the Pakistan Institute of Environmental Development Action Research, according to a Panos report by Najma Sadeque. With the expected doubling of atmospheric carbon, …
A TEAM of US researchers have said carbon monoxide and hydrocarbon pollution levels in Kathmandu were the highest among Asian cities, writes Jan Sharma in a Panos report. The average carbon monoxide and hydrocarbon content of emissions of 8,000 vehicles monitored by the team were 3.95 per cent and 0.76 …
WITH THEIR earlier attempts to conquer malaria having fallen through, researchers are now toying with a novel approach -- altering the mosquito's genetic make-up so that it cannot carry the parasite it now transmits to humans. Exterminating mosquitoes to check the spread of malaria has been the main goal of …
SHORTAGE of space is a familiar lament of city folk fond of gardening. But now, architect Gosta Nilsson has found a novel way to make walls using hollow concrete blocks that could be filled with sand and manure for plants to grow in. These "growing" walls would be ideal around …
THE US Congress approval of less than the requested funding for the world's poorest countries has put the International Development Agency (IDA) of the World Bank in trouble. Though the Clinton administration had requested an annual contribution of $1.25 billion to meet its three-year commitment of $3.75 billion, the Congress …
AT MIDNIGHT on September 29-30, Gulab Jawalge and his family went to bed, exhausted by the prolonged Ganesh Puja celebrations in their village, Mangrool, in Maharashtra. Less than four hours later, Jawalge found himself trapped in a pile of rubble that his house had become. When he extricated himself half-an-hour …
THE POPULATION explosion has caused Pakistan's per capita surface water resource to decline from 5,000 cubic metres in 1947 to 1,400 cubic metres today. This is expected to drop further to 800 cubic metres in the next two decades, writes Najma Sadeque for Panos. Karachi, Pakistan's biggest urban centre, is …
DOES A hare flee when it spots a fox? Interestingly, no. Instead, it stands upright and signals its presence by flashing its ventral fur. As a brown hare can run much faster, once the fox knows it has been spotted, it desists from chasing the hare, thereby saving a lot …
FOR MOST girls, fear emanates from an under-the-bed-world. In an experiment in which children aged three to four years were asked about their night-time fears, significantly more girls than boys referred to an underworld peopled with ogres and monsters, says Richard Coss, a psychologist at the University of California, Davis. …
US PRESIDENT Bill Clinton has proposed a package of measures that would afford additional protection to Alaska's wetlands, but also ease some of the present restrictions on wetlands use. Environmentalists term the measures a tepid series of steps that will just open up opportunities for the abuse of a fragile …
IN THE eight or nine years she has spent building a resistance movement to the Narmada dam project, Medha Patkar has certainly learnt to state her case. And her ability in this direction was evident in Zee TV's Aap ki Adalat, where she fielded with considerable panache, host Rajat Sharma's …
